A Path of Her Own…

“Leaving Eden”

This is a painting I began in 2005. My goal for 2011 is to finish some canvases I began several years ago. This painting has undergone many metamorphoses. It was one of the first canvases I worked on when I began painting again in 2005, and quickly discovered I didn’t have the skill I needed to produce the inner vision I had of the subject matter. I still feel that my skill is lacking and I am disappointed in the figure as looking more cartoonish than I envisioned. I will continue to tweak the figure, but at this point I find that more “tweaking” is causing more mistakes that need correcting, so I am stopping at this point and waiting to see what happens at some future date.

I have always had a fascination with the story of the Garden of Eden, and imagine the leaving as chaotic and frightening, especially for Eve who was blamed for everything! My ‘Eve’ is jumping bravely into the unknown, who knows where her partner is, but she is on her way, giving a careful look to the burning guardian of the gate. I have also read of ‘Lilith,’ who was said to be the first partner of Adam, but she was so uppity and independent she had to be banished. Perhaps this is not Eve, but Lilith.

Detail of “Leaving Eden” (left side of painting)

“Leaving Eden” (left side of painting)

‘Eve’

Unfinished ‘Eve’

Detail (right side of canvas)

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seeing this in person might give me a different feeling than seeing it here on the net – however here at least, i do not feel like the figure is “too cartoonish”. i feel like it fits in well with the rest of the painting. i also feel like it has a uniqueness that comes from you. i like that.

when i was initially looking – that is before reading your words – i found that i felt in line with what you said when i did read eventually. (sorry that’s a confusing sentence i’m going to let it stand tho and hope you get what i mean from it…)

when i looked (before reading) i got the sense that this moment may have happened but going forth to make the best of it – that is a human trait i think – that feels to me like this is what is in this work. the sense that we are human and yet we are not going to be defeated by challenge or circumstances without making an effort to over come what ever has happened.

i like that message – or feeling i get from this work. even with nothing, we will not give up.

yeah, i wrote a comment before this one about being ready to complete a work – and in this one you’ve said almost the same thing. that is exactly what i meant. cool.

4 Rooms and the Moon

“There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual . Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.” - Rumer Godden